Take a photo of a barcode or cover
williamsalley 's review for:
The Lost Year
by Katherine Marsh
The Lost Year is definitely a book that a lot of teachers and kids will enjoy. The time period the book starts is during the Covid pandemic (2020) in Leonia, New Jersey. Thirteen year old Matthew is stuck in the house, school is online but worse than that his great grandmother, GG, is staying with his family and his mom has forbidden him from coming into contact with others because she doesn’t want GG to get Covid. Of course with nothing to do Matthew accidentally causes a small ruckus involving a bow and arrow and GG. His mom punishes him by confiscating his switch and forcing him to help GG clean out boxes she is holding onto. Once Matthew begins helping GG. unpack and sift through the pages and pictures she has, he stumbles upon a family history that GG has never shared with anyone. GG’s life is not what it seems and the book starts flashing back to the lives of three first cousins all being impacted by a historical event called the Holodomer which is the Ukrainian famine of the 1930’s. This famine was the cause of over a million Ukrainian deaths that the Soviet Union covered up for decades. The book flashes from present day Matthew’s life to great Grandma GG’s childhood. There were three is a mystery to Matthew at first when GG mentions it to Matthew as she shared a picture of herself with her cousin Helen. This book was masterfully written with so much detail that the characters come to life to the reader. There is also much detail and description about the events that happened in the 1930’s making the history found in the book meaningful and accessible to the reader. There are some heavier themes in this book and would recommend it for older jr. high readers. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.